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I think this week it's time to take a break from the serious business of beer reviews to examine the folly and foibles around America's favorite adult beverage. No good comes out of taking oneself too seriously, as demonstrated by proponents of another popular alcoholic beverage.

I get a lot of press releases, some of which are relevant to me (Adelbert's releasing a gin barrel-aged saison), and others less so (who knew there is a vegan Oktoberfest in Santa Monica?), but one made me chuckle for its poor choice of audience.

“Slide over, sweaty mug of brutish beer; wine has stepped up to its game,” it crows. Now don't get me wrong, condensation on the outside of a glass can be annoying, but the humble coaster ameliorates that quite effectively. It's hardly a reason for dismissing beer drinkers collectively as a bunch of soccer hooligans. Now, if I just fell for the tactic of the intentional eye-catching mistake like the chain of Laundromats that mounts its signs upside down, cheers to you, PR person.

Onward to something that makes me shake my head whenever I'm sampling beers in a bigger group. Each time a new bottle gets opened, someone is sure to excitedly pull out his phone and take a picture of the label instead of pouring beer into his glass. It's the curse of the Untappd user. For those blissfully unaware, there is a phone app that allows the user to check in beers (think Foursquare). When the person has fulfilled some requirement for a certain variety of beer, the app awards him a badge, which it then attempts to post to each of his social media accounts. So when I'm checking my Facebook feed, I get to see that Henry Hophead has just earned the “Plays on his phone too much while drinking IPAs with friends” badge. Credit where credit is due — wine drinkers do not do this. I have never seen them rush to open some app called Uncorked every time they hear a bottle pop.

I can't resist a momentary return to the topic of my last column, session IPAs. I decried their lack of balance and malt flavor, though I admit there is a bit of personal preference involved. However, what is inexcusable is that they are more expensive than the corresponding brewery's real IPA. It takes less of every ingredient other than water to make them. Why, then, are they not cheaper? I really hope that this is not the beginning of Big Beer marketing nonsense invading craft beer.

Finally, it's become an entertaining experience to follow the creative ingredients breweries are putting in their beers. Who would have guessed Epic is about to brew a wild apple parsley saison? I do hope, though, that brewers stop short of a recipe for rooster beer printed in a 19th century drinks handbook. The recipe calls for putting a whole flayed, parboiled cock (“the older the better”) into 10 gallons of fermenting ale along with raisins, mace and cloves. The wine snobs will never let us hear the end of it if someone resurrects that one.

Markus Haas is a beer writer for the Express-News. Follow him on Twitter @saen_beerguy or email mhaas@express-news.net.